"Th' attempt and not the deed Confounds us." in Macbeth, should not be read-" Th' attempt without the deed confounds us." These things" in great ones must not unwatch'd go." The new farce, called the Portrait of Cervantes, played first for Mr. Munden's benefit, and now repeated, is a very good “rough sketch.” The second act, in which, through the plotting and counterplotting of the lovers, their two servants are brought to represent the dead body of Cervantes, produces an effect admirably farcical, and convulsed the house with laughter. This piece is a translation from the French. Mr. C. Kemble had previously presented it to Mr, Harris in a different shape, but it was, it is said, for some not very generous reason, delayed. It is at this moment in preparation at the Haymarket Theatre. 66 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE WINTER THEATRES. The profits of Covent-Garden and Drury-Lane Theatre, remind us of the contest between the two rival singers, on whose efforts the umpire pronounced thus—“ I never heard any thing so bad as your singing in my life," said he to the first,“ but as for you,” turning to the second, you can't sing at all." Covent-Garden is so overloaded with the exof pence engagements at enormous salaries, that good houses for the season have netted them little, while Drury, adding to the same oppressive burthen, debts innumerable, can with full houses clear nothing, At the former theatre, even the good internal management, as it respects order and obedience, fails to be productive, and at the latter, where all are masters *, and it is a perpetual Saturnalia, nothing has been got worth dividing, after the payment of the salaries, tradesmen, rent and taxes, since the year 1800. While this shameless and foolish want of prudence and economy prevails, the players must be considered, to use Lord Bacon's words, " Like ants, which are wise creatures for themselves, but very hurtful for the garden." Actors and poets appear in our day to be paid more, in proportion to their inferiority to the professors of former times. The loss at Covent-Garden in Miss Smith and Mrs. Mattocks, has been Even the fiddlers attended the rehearsal of the chorusses as it suited their convenience. + Letters from Dublin, July 7, exhaust all old terms of praise and invent new ones, to describe the delight there experienced in her acting. She may be said to have been driven into this exile by our managers, for though articles were prepared for a further engagement, Miss Smith, recollecting the treatment she had received, refused to sign them, preferring rather to follow the fortunes of Mr. Jones, the Irish manager, then in treaty for Drury-Lane Theatre. been severe, but the company is powerful, and expects an addition to its strength in the accession of Mr. Young, who is engaged at a large salary for five years. At Drury-lane the sufferance has been still greater, without the stamina to endure it. Mr. Elliston, paid to play every thing, but excellent alone in the sock, and wholly ridiculous in the buskin, is their first man, and Mr. Young having escaped them, tragedy seems utterly banished from that theatre. In Ireland they appear to have appreciated Mr. Elliston's abilities more justly than we do. There, after leaving his brethren here with their benefits, a fortnight before the house closed, his haste and importance were rewarded with a four and twenty pound house-less far than we give him per week. Of his comedy we have always spoken with respect, and sometimes with admiration, but we have incurred his displeasure, and shall anxiously continue to do so, by not praising all the merits which he may fancy he possesses. We were driven, it will be recollected, into a correspondence with this Roscius, and all for what? for Hecubafor a straw-for, in fact, (since there's the murder) his tragedy! Now, we have with the utmost freedom, multâ cum libertate, pointed out the errors of Mr. Kemble, and called Mr. Claremont a bad actor, but neither the one, who knows the submission due to criticism, nor the other, who dreams that he is an Emperor, has ever expostulated with us. No; it remained for something between the two, and in tragedy much nearer the latter than the former, to exhibit such a superabundance of vanity, folly, and presumption. If we speak with warmth, and even indignation on the subject, it is because we had our independence attacked on this occasion, but though we were clamorously assailed, we were not, nor shall we ever be, intimidated by any, the longest winded, and loudest Thraso or Bobadil of them all. Many pieces have been produced, and the houses may be said to have been fruitful.-So is the crab-tree. Of this description of fruit, there is a store, and thus they stand in a descending scale. Faulkener, a Tragedy. Something to Do, a Comedy. Two Faces under a Hood, an Opera. Jew of Mogadore, an Opera. Kais, an Opera. Too Friendly by Half, a Farce. In and out of Tune, a Farce. Caractacus, a Melo-Drame. Harlequin in his Element, a Pantomime. Furibond, a Pantomime. Bonifacio and Bridgetina, a Gallimathias, Those of a better sort may, on the same principle, be classed as follows: The World, a Comedy Begone Dull Care, a Comedy. Time's a Tell-Tale, a Comedy. The Portrait of Cervantes, a Farce. Blind Boy, a Melo Drame. Ella Rosenberg, a Melo Drame. This scale will be thoroughly comprehended by a reference to our Mem. Dram. Where there is but one of a species, as in the case of Faulkener, Something to Do, and Bonifacio, no comparison can be made, and they may safely be considered as singularly bad of the kind. Where there are two, as in Too friendly by Half, and In and out of Tune, it is necessary to say, we would not merely signify that the latter is worse than the former, but the very worst thing of the sort. And where there are three, Two Faces, the Jew of Mogadore, and Kais, the three degrees of comparison may be understood, the 1st. positively bad, the 2d. comparatively bad, and the 3d. superlatively bad. But the reference will better explain. The revivals, such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bonduca, The Castle of Otranto, Percy, and The Travellers in Switzerland, have been remarkably injudicious, dull, and unprofitable. The new actors who have appeared, not much to our liking, may, as Mr. Dibdin would say, be lumped, viz. Hammerton, Adamson, Oxberry, Stubbs, Eyre, Bamfylde, Daponte, &c. Others deserving more respect, are Mrs. Whitlocke*, Mrs. Dickons *, Miss Lyon, Miss Norton, Mr. Jones, Mr. Putnam, and Mr. Smith. Mr. Putnam is, we think, a promising young man, and has been well received here, though he was always hissed in Ireland, while Mr. Jones, the sun of the Irish World in little, is in our sphere at present a star of very inferior magnitude and brilliancy. Our summing up is far from flattering, but it is not our province to flatter-we have no favour to ask, no displeasure to fear; our business is with truth-to represent things as we see them. Let any jury find against us, and we contend that it is a packed panel, for the verdict is against evidence. It is scarcely necessary to add to this melancholy account of the loss of good old actors, and the introduction of new bad ones, with plays of the same character, the numerous merits of many favourite performers Re appearances. still still remaining, and the excellence of varios stock pieces, since we have so largely, and with so much pleasure, treated of them in our periodical criticisms. HAYMARKET. June 21. Mountaineers.-Lock and Key. 22. John Bull.-The Review. 23. Hamlet.- Catch him who can. 24. Ways and Means.-Finger Post.—Tom Thumb. 25. Hunter of the Alps.-Katherine and Petruchio *.-Critic. June * After Mr. Kemble, Mr. Young is without comparison the finest tragedian on our stage. In study and in figure he is greatly inferior to his rival; but in ease, and what may be termed natural acting, though it is all founded on art, he is frequently very superior. Opinion is divided with respect to the performance of Petruchio, by Mr. Lewis and Mr. Kemble, in Shakspeare's cut down Taming of the Shrew.Some, for whose judgment we ought to entertain respect, are decidedly in favour of Mr. Kemble, but the million are, we know, for Mr. Lewis, and without stopping to speak critically of the text and other minutiæ in which Mr. K. is passing correct, we side with the latter as more entertaining. Of the Petruchio of Mr. Young, however, we can speak without much diffidence or hesitation. It is but a shade of a few of the good qualities of those already mentioned. The part defies any actor to play it entirely without applause, and Mr. Young, assisted by the excellent acting of Mrs. Gibbs in Katherine (or Catharina) provoked a great deal, but not for the goodness of the personation, or the happy spirit infused into it. This valuable actor, in tragedy exclusively, speaks best when he takes least pains: when careful his mouthing is by no means agreeable, and, at these times, though a young man, his face bears many of the marks of age, his skin hanging about his jaws like a carpet badly laid down, or wrinkled and flaccid like a bladder before it is inflated. There was a shameful want of study throughout the whole of this piece. In Lock and Key, and other farces, the actors may, if they will, trust to their mother-wit, but we cannot approve of the liberty when taken with Shakspeare. In the Critic, which followed, Mr. Matthews indulged the town with his Sir Fretful Plagiary, in which he appeared, if possible, to more advantage than ever. As the Critic is certainly revived merely for the sake June 27. Stranger.-Love laughs at Locksmiths. 28. Speed the Plough.-Review. -29. Heir at Law.-Tom Thumb. 30. Wheel of Fortune.-Plot and Counterplot, or the Portrait of Michael Cervantes *. July 1. Mogul.-Five Miles off.-Plot and Counterplot. 2. A Tale of Mystery.-We Fly by Night.-Plot and Counterplot. 4. Iron Chest.-Plot and Counterplot. 5. Wonder.-Plot and Counterplot. 6. Seeing's believing.--Battle of Hexham.-Plot and Coun- 7. Sighs. The Ghost (revived).-Plot and Counterplot. July sake of this admirable performance, we recommend in future the omission of the tiresome mummery, which succeeds this delightful act, and is almost wholly independent of it. The Puff of Mr. Fawcett is full of spirit and very entertaining, but we have enough of it in the first act. Mr. C. Kem *This is fully what the Italians term una fursa ridere. ble's translation of it from the French had, it is said, the precedence in point of time, but certainly not of performance. (See Covent G. June 27.) There is more neatness in the language of Mr. K's. farce, and there are some additions which did not appear in the former; but that these are improvements, as it respects laughter, is not evident. The force of the piece is in the last act, when, in the plotting of the lovers to obtain the painter's daughter, their respective servants are introduced representing the corpse of the author of Don Quixote, whose likeness the limner has engaged to take. The situation here is in both excessively droll; but, through certain little things, particularly the sneezing of the corpse, the effect seemed to us to be more irresistible at Covent-Garden. Mr. Liston, as servant to one of the lovers, and Mrs. Gibbs, as maid to the lady, play the same rôle as at the other theatre, and it is not easy to imagine any acting more exquisitely farcical. Mr. Fawcett, in the other dead body, was very lively, and Mr. Matthews' old Painter was “ a pretty bit.”" + The Critic was played “ by special desire” of the Duchess of York, and by special favour, it seems, for Mr. Sheridan has put his veto on its being repeated. The influence that procures this arrangement is folly on the one hand, and not very praise-worthy on the other. It is folly |